Hobby UAV (Drones)

[iamwhatiseem]

Could have killed hundreds of people......

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Lufthansa flight has near-miss with drone on approach to LAX

Airliners come within 100 feet of drone over New York - CNN.com

Risky near misses between drones and other aircraft surge in California



I can go on and on. The first passenger jet/drone accident is going to happen. It will because for every responsible owner there will be 100 idiots. The day will come when 100's of people will die because of a dumbass. It is going to happen.

 

[MikeK]

Have had a DJI Phantom for about a year, equipped with a GoPro camera. It is awesome if you are into photography. I take it to rivers, lakes, the ocean, swamps, wherever, and film HD videos of the terrain. It is easy to fly; you almost have to want to crash it to make it crash. The biggest danger is that when the low battery light starts flashing you have got to stop and bring it home right then or it will drop.

It has GPS and if it loses your signal from the remote, or you activate the fail safe feature it will automatically rise 200 ft. and then return to the calibration point. It just takes a little time and practice before you can fly it effectively.

I think I paid $500-600 for this DJI plus whatever the GoPro camera cost me. You have had to go online and register them with the FAA since last December, but it's no big deal. If you do it now I think it's like $5.00.

If you are serious about droning go to an RC hobby store and talk to them.

The Phantom is indeed a superior drone. The only thing I don't like about it is the separate FPV monitor requirement, which calls for use of a smart phone or tablet. I neither own a smart-phone or a tablet, nor do I need or want either one. I am essentially a computer dummy when it comes to anything other than the few applications I normally use and I look forward to any kind of software tinkering as I would a root canal or a colonoscopy.

For that specific reason my alternate consideration is the Yuneec Typhoon Q500. The current price is $1,000, but it comes with two extra batteries, a really nice case and a bunch of other accessories, including a hand-grip for the gimbal equipped camera -- which should interest you because of your interest in photography.
The Typhoon's most attractive feature (to me) is the 5.5" FPV monitor built right into the controller. No smart-phone or tablet required. No software tinkering. But the downside is the Typhoon's limited telemetry functions and its significantly limited monitoring range (300 yards) compared to the Phantom's considerably superior functions.

I held off buying either one because the onset of winter limited me to flying my Syma x5c around the house (and driving my Yorkie nuts). I couldn't do that with either a Phantom or a Typhoon.

 

[Pop23]

Could have killed hundreds of people......

I agree, there are always idiots out and about, but then we sure could count the dead of cell phone users causing car accidents as well.

 

[Pop23]

This is great

 

[Iceweasel]

If a tree branch is hanging over your property, it's yours. So your theory needs work.

A hanging tree branch is a permanently imposing physical presence. A passing aircraft is not. Nor is it "yours."

You made that up. LOL. It was weak too. Yes, I can cut off anything hanging onto my property, straight on up. Don't try to bullshit people that know better.

Made what up?

Is a tree branch overhanging your property a permanent and imposing physical presence, or isn't it? And how does that compare with a passing aircraft? According to your reasoning, so long as you are a property-owning rural yokel who chews the same brand of tobacco as the local sheriff it's okay to shoot down any private aircraft that passes over your property.

If you fly a drone over someone's property and the property owner shoots it down, the pivotal factor in terms of potential legal action is proof. If you can prove it, and if the local cops will not enforce the laws against malicious destruction of private property, the next step is civil action, which, when finalized, will precipitate criminal action. What you need to understand is local authorities are subordinate to state authority and the Common Law. The local cop is by no means the last word.

But let's assume you are a property owner who shoots down someone's hobby drone and the owner of the drone isn't interested in pursuing legal action against you. You don't know who he is -- but he knows who you are.

Where do you get your legal theory that it depends on whether it is permanently on your property or temporary? Sounds made up. What malicious destruction? That's your assumption. A drone could be ready to drop poison, maybe a little anti-freeze filled burger for your dog. You don't know, you're making shit up with 100% consideration to the asshole buzzing private property and 0% for the property owners.

Civil action precipitates criminal action? It's the other way around. At most the flyboy would get paid (if he can collect) for his aircraft. Now he could tack on emotional distress but he's unlikely to prevail.

I have no idea what your last sentence is supposed to mean.

 

[MikeK]

Where do you get your legal theory that it depends on whether it is permanently on your property or temporary? Sounds made up. What malicious destruction? That's your assumption. A drone could be ready to drop poison, maybe a little anti-freeze filled burger for your dog. You don't know, you're making shit up with 100% consideration to the asshole buzzing private property and 0% for the property owners.

Civil action precipitates criminal action? It's the other way around. At most the flyboy would get paid (if he can collect) for his aircraft. Now he could tack on emotional distress but he's unlikely to prevail.

I have no idea what your last sentence is supposed to mean.

I think you need to have your prescription adjusted.

 

[Iceweasel]

Where do you get your legal theory that it depends on whether it is permanently on your property or temporary? Sounds made up. What malicious destruction? That's your assumption. A drone could be ready to drop poison, maybe a little anti-freeze filled burger for your dog. You don't know, you're making shit up with 100% consideration to the asshole buzzing private property and 0% for the property owners.

Civil action precipitates criminal action? It's the other way around. At most the flyboy would get paid (if he can collect) for his aircraft. Now he could tack on emotional distress but he's unlikely to prevail.

I have no idea what your last sentence is supposed to mean.

I think you need to have your prescription adjusted.

Come back when you give it more thought.

 

[MikeK]

Have had a DJI Phantom for about a year, equipped with a GoPro camera.

[...]

ZackB,

Addendum to my last message:

I want to say I'm glad I didn't give in to the urges I've had to order a DJI Phantom 3A or a Yuneec Typhoon Q500 because I would now be experiencing buyer's remorse. The DJI Phantom 4, released last week, in addition to a number of generally improved features, is now equipped with the very important capability of object avoidance, which means no more crashes and no lodging in trees!

Also, Yuneec is about to introduce the Typhoon H, which is a substantially upgraded version of the Typhoon Q500 and also features 360 degree object avoidance, which, in addition to the Phantom 4's frontal object sensor, utilizes sensors all-around which will prevent contact with objects regardless of which direction the craft is moving in. This is, to me, an extremely significant development and will revolutionize the rapidly advancing technology of hobby drones.

As an aerial photographer, this development will be especially useful to you when using FPV to monitor the framing of a run. I correspond with two aerial photographers (one is a professional) on the Phantom website, both of whom have complained about the risk of leaving Line-Of-Sight monitoring of their drone to concentrate on the FPV monitor. Now they needn't worry about crashing into unexpected objects in their path.

On the downside, the price of both the Phantom 4 and the Typhoon H, is $1,300. But the pace at which this technology is moving forward, and the rising competition, it won't be long before these prices come down.

If you want to see something interesting, check out the JSD 509G. It is a good-looking Toy-grade drone that flies nicely, has barometric altitude control for relatively stable hovering -- and FPV with it's own sun shade-equipped monitor. While something like this would have cost around $400 - $500 as recently as a year ago it is now available for less than $100.

It's moving fast.

 

[ZackB]

Have had a DJI Phantom for about a year, equipped with a GoPro camera.

[...]

ZackB,

Addendum to my last message:

I want to say I'm glad I didn't give in to the urges I've had to order a DJI Phantom 3A or a Yuneec Typhoon Q500 because I would now be experiencing buyer's remorse. The DJI Phantom 4, released last week, in addition to a number of generally improved features, is now equipped with the very important capability of object avoidance, which means no more crashes and no lodging in trees!

Also, Yuneec is about to introduce the Typhoon H, which is a substantially upgraded version of the Typhoon Q500 and also features 360 degree object avoidance, which, in addition to the Phantom 4's frontal object sensor, utilizes sensors all-around which will prevent contact with objects regardless of which direction the craft is moving in. This is, to me, an extremely significant development and will revolutionize the rapidly advancing technology of hobby drones.

As an aerial photographer, this development will be especially useful to you when using FPV to monitor the framing of a run. I correspond with two aerial photographers (one is a professional) on the Phantom website, both of whom have complained about the risk of leaving Line-Of-Sight monitoring of their drone to concentrate on the FPV monitor. Now they needn't worry about crashing into unexpected objects in their path.

On the downside, the price of both the Phantom 4 and the Typhoon H, is $1,300. But the pace at which this technology is moving forward, and the rising competition, it won't be long before these prices come down.

If you want to see something interesting, check out the JSD 509G. It is a good-looking Toy-grade drone that flies nicely, has barometric altitude control for relatively stable hovering -- and FPV with it's own sun shade-equipped monitor. While something like this would have cost around $400 - $500 as recently as a year ago it is now available for less than $100.

It's moving fast.

Will do. Thanks.